Follow along as Elder Keith serves his mission for
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Another great week in the MTC!

Good morning loyal readers! Here is the latest from Elder Keith. He is doing great and making memories. He has been at the Missionary Training Center for almost a month and in just a few short weeks he will be heading out to Oregon!

I hope you enjoy this week's installment of "As the World Turns...in the MTC". :)

Hola!

Things are going great here!
We just got back from doing our first temple session in two weeks and it was
amazing. It's an amazing opportunity we have to go to the temple every
P-day. We all did our session together because we have a district in our
zone leaving on Monday and we all stayed and ate breakfast together...and lemme
tell you...dat temple breakfast tho...I got two biscuits and gravy and a big
ham and cheese omelet and I was in heaven.

This week was a week of small
miracles. Last Friday, Hermana Osborne asked Elder Sandall and I to give
her a blessing because she was having a hard time and needed some
comfort. It was an amazing experience and the moment the blessing was
over, her entire demeanor changed and I know that the Spirit had and is
continuing to comfort her! Then, Hermana Martinez asked Elder Gonzalez
and I to give her a blessing because she too was having a hard time and was
worried about things at home and I was able to give her the blessing. It
was the first blessing I've ever given and it was great! She said that
she felt so much better afterwards and it was seriously such a great
experience!

This past Monday we taught all three
investigators, including Jorge, who by far is our toughest investigator.
Our lessons with our two teachers playing investigators went really well and
they were really receptive to our messages. Then we go to Jorge, who at
our last visit, really felt the Spirit, cried, and prayed for us. This visit
was a total hot mess. We were talking to him about the Plan of Salvation
because his son had passed away and the only reason he is talking to us is
because our church gives his son hope. So we are talking about the Plan
of Salvation and he interrupts our lesson and says that we aren't helping him
or his son, we don't care about him, his needs, or his son, and that we don't
love him. He said that "You may have love but I am not feeling
it!" He proceeded to yell at us for AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES and
then said, and I quote, "Don't say anything more. You can finish
with your prayer but don't say anything more!"

We were so upset and hurt that he
would think and say those things because they were all wrong. We planned
this lesson about the Plan of Salvation specifically for him and to help his
son and we work really hard for him and his lessons. Then we had to teach
him again last night and we both were so nervous to go in and teach him
again. But something weird happened. He acted as though Monday
night had never happened and was kind and understood and accepted our message
for him and wants to know more about the church and baptism. How crazy is
that?! The Spirit works in many different ways and it's amazing to see it
work its way through our investigators.

John has been sending me cards and
notes of encouragement. He really is such a great guy. So great,
that he sent me TWO books of HARRY POTTER STAMPS!! Like, what is
life?! So amazing. Tom and Beth have also been writing me on Dear
Elder.com and they sent me a package of candies and such. I have some
great people in my life.

I saw Taylor! He came in on
Wednesday and leaves before I do! LOL! We have gym and meal time
together so we see each other often! It was great to see him and catch
up!

This past week our Branch President
asked if he could pull me away for a second and immediately I started
sweating. So I go into a room and he says that our branch is in charge of
ushering for this next Tuesday (13th) devotional and we have to say the prayers
and he asked me if I would say the prayer in this upcoming devotional!
After relaxing and taking a moment to breathe, I said yes. So this
Tuesday, I am saying the prayer in the devotional in front of the entire
MTC. I've been sweating ever since he asked me! But it's very
exciting!

Earlier this week, Elder Gonzalez
was trying to climb up the bunk bed and slide underneath the guard rail and
crawl underneath the bed, without touching the mattress. So he begins and is
making good progress. He is halfway under the guard rail when it breaks off
the bed and he falls onto the floor, from the top bunk, hitting his back on the
metal frame of the bed. I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as I did
the moment he fell off the bed. It was the funniest thing I've ever
seen!

Elder Gonzalez and I have been getting along great and I'm
so glad we are companions. We work really well together and I sneaked a
peek at our teachers evaluation thing online and he said that our lessons are
really well taught and we do a good job together! And not to brag or toot
our own horn but TOOT friggin TOOT! Our lessons are bomb! On
Tuesdays, we teach members from the area and the couple we taught this week,
The Rascon's, said that our Spanish was very good for only being here three
weeks! We are the dream team!

I'll tell you how perfect Elder
Gonzalez and I are. We are one. One night, we are laying in bed and
all of the sudden we both start singing 867-5309 (Jenny) at the same
time! Then on another occasion, we both started singing MMBOP by them
Hanson brothers. Then, on yet another occasion, we started singing I Want
it That Way by the BSB! Those are just a few of our musical
similarities. A really funny one that happened a couple nights ago was
when Elder Sandall was laying in bed drawing some face of some random, odd
looking woman (he's practicing his people drawing) and I lean up on my elbow
and say "Draw me!" And at the same time, both Elder Gonzalez
and I say "Draw me like one of your French women, Jack!" from Titanic
and we all busted out laughing. The picture Elder Sandall drew is an
absolute masterpiece.

That's how all of us are with each
other in our zone! We all goof around and help each other when we need
it. Like one, big happy family! LOL! We all decided that when
we get back from our missions that we are either going to school in Idaho or
Provo and will spend weekends together and basically be BFF's. Every last
one of us. Except those certain few that are unwelcome...they know who
they are!

You're probably wondering why the
subject of this email is "What's the difference between the MTC and
prison?!" That is a joke that our zone thinks is SO funny. The
answer...In prison, you get visitors. I mean, it's pretty funny...but
it's said all. the. time.

Not much else is happening!
Elder Gonzalez and I started writing Hermana Curnow's little brother asking him
all sorts of questions only those on the outside world could answer! I
asked if there was a new iPhone yet, if Facebook had been taken over by something
new and popular, and if hashtags were still a thing! We are awaiting his
response! We get to host the new missionaries next week! We are the ones
at the curb that get to pry them from their weeping mothers and bring them into
this sacred prison yard and show them around and who to sit with and who to
stay away from unless you want a big brawl in the lunch line. It's going
to be fun! Things are still the same here! We want to be fluent in
Spanish, our investigators baptized, real food from Del Taco or Costa Vida, and
some REAL Coke! So basically, just another week here at the MTC!

Tis all the time for now! I
love and miss you all lots and can't wait to hear from you! Pictures to
come!